.

Update 17 Feb –
The book was released on 11 Feb, and in 4 days it reached #1 Best Seller spot!
Please click here to find it on Amazon Kindle store.

Unveiling the cover.

As you know PMI brought out updated syllabus based PMP exam from 12th of January this year.

The fact that there are no changes in PMBOK made it harder for people to figure how to approach the new exam.

From November onward I started getting mails and messages asking for reference material for the updated content.

The updated content, as Simone confirmed in an interview with Corenlius, accounts for about 25% of content that questions appear from.

Simone is the project manager for PMP exam at PMI.org, by the way.

(I spoke with Cornelius’s office and confirmed that they have updated the content of ALL of their PMP study products.)

That’s when I thought of writing a book that gives a step-by-step approach to prepare for the PMP exam.

I mean, Why not?

I have personally (one-on-one) helped over 650+ PMP students from around the world pass their PMP exam so far, and followed up with many to see how my advice panned out for them (feel free to schedule your Skype call using the green button at the bottom of this page).

This continuous feedback loop made it easier to reinforce the approach to the exam.

“Now is probably the best time to give it to everyone in a concise book format”, I thought.

Then the work began.

Long story short, this book represents the essence of what I set out to do with PMESN on that Sunday afternoon in 2013.

When I announced the launch of this book on PMESN Facebook page and to my subscribers in the last week of Jan, there was am amazing amount of support from you all. Many of you gave invaluable suggestions – which I was able to then include in my book.

I am so thankful for your inputs. I am sure it has made the book more useful (that’s the feedback I’ve been getting from beta-readers right now).

Few days later I released a combo image of three book covers – again on the Facebook page and to my newsletter subscribers. I requested to vote for the best cover and best title.

The response, to say the least, was s.i.m.p.l.y. a.w.e.s.o.m.e.!

Here’re the results – [continue reading…]

Shiv –

Thanks for all the content you provide. It was definitely a help. Here is an overview of my PMP prep.

Pre-Prep

I decided to start my PMP journey in October. Your content was very helpful in identifying the resources that I would use in my preparation. I decided to use Cornelius Fichtner’s PM PrepCast, Exam Simulator and the PMBOK Guide.

My PMP study plan

I followed Cornelius’s recommended approach of watching the overview sections first and then going back for the detail. I feel as though this kept me from feeling like I was drinking from a fire hose. After going through each overview I would read through each process in the PMBOK Guide and then watch the PrepCast related to that process. The sample questions at the end of each section in the PM PrepCast helped me understand what areas I needed to review to ensure I fully understood it.

I was spending about 2-4 hours per day for studying for the exam. Monday through Friday would be more like 2 hours at night and more like 4 hours on the weekends. I also intentionally took a day off from study every 10 days or so. This helped me avoid burnout. [continue reading…]

I would like to first of all thank the entire team of Cornelius Fichtner for bringing to us such wonderful PMP Exam Simulator.

I cleared my PMP exam (first attempt) today with 4 Proficient scores and 1 Moderately Proficient score in Initiating. One of my friends had highly recommended this exam simulator to me and I trusted her when I purchased it.

I don’t really want to share the points that has been repeatedly written in forums. Here are few unique (or perhaps few contrasts to common beliefs) points based on my experience of journey. A word of caution – please use this at your own discretion :-).

The beginning

I started studying for PMP a year back as my company had nominated me to take up this exam. I had only weekends to study since I was promoted and my new position was very demanding. I felt that studying for a year long was actually beneficial because I went really slow to learn the concepts thoroughly. [continue reading…]

Hi Shiv,

Firstly, thanks for what you do, selflessly, for thousands of PMP aspirants, day in and day out. Your tips, blog and chapters made the entire 4 week preparation journey enjoyable. I managed to pass my PMP exam last week, on my first attempt.

I am happy to share my exam prep strategy. My preparation lasted exactly 4 weeks, from the Thanksgiving weekend to new year’s eve.

Here goes:

Set a date

I have heard somewhere that weight-loss programs are most successful around school reunions :-)..

The keyword I guess is MOTIVATION. Over the Thanksgiving weekend, I set a date (12/30 ) thereby giving myself 30 days to prepare. And I promised myself NOT to reschedule, and am glad that I didn’t.

Preparation Material and Process

I focused on 2 main sources –

1. PMBOK guide
2. Your notes and emails

I started reading one chapter a day (not much) from the PMBOK. Once I hit Ch 4 (Integration Management), I started supplementing the PMBOK with your smartnotes, the blog posts. [continue reading…]

Hi there! Here’s what I have to share about my PMP journey…..

I think it is important to know about the Test Center experience. For some reason, the entire process threw me off, and impacted my ability to remember all that I had studied. Everyone should read about what happens on the day of the exam. Also be aware of when you function the most efficiently….AM or PM. The entire testing experience is exhausting, so know when you are at your best.

The 1st time around, I made many mistakes.

First, I used way too many sources during my study time.

I watched YouTube videos, used Rita’s book, read the PMBOK, used at least 5 sources for test exams, and checked every single piece of advice on the LinkedIn site.

I believe this was a mistake, and it made me crazy and I felt overstimulated.

The 2nd time around, I found sticking to 2-3 sources was best.

I used Exam Central for test simulations and Q&A’s, and then used the comprehensive exams from my Bootcamp. This was sufficient. [continue reading…]